Land Train

As mentioned back in February Hull has a land train now up and running. For £4 (I'm assuming we're all adults here) you can ride the beast from Queen Victoria square through the old town all the way across the wide and beautiful river to the Deep and back again in a little over an hour. Or you could just walk it for nowt, as we say in these parts .... when I took this picture there did seem to be more staff than passengers but maybe trade will pick up.

I suppose I should tell you that this thing has a website, here, last time I looked though it was"under construction". Unless it actually runs me over or falls into the river I shan't be mentioning this again.

Round Square

Long, long ago Margot's parents came to Hull for her graduation ceremony in the City Hall. They stopped off for a meal in a Chinese restaurant, after their meal they asked the way to the City Hall and were told to go along the road until they came to the "round square". From that day forth Queen Victoria square has been known in these circles as the round square. Back then it had traffic circulating the regal urinals and did not look like a paved desert. We are told this space will feature prominently in the 2017 C of C thing; well that'll be fun then won't it....


CDP's Square theme is here.

Xmas and all that jazz

After yesterday's village illuminations here's how the big town lights up. Above is Whitefriargate with its canopy of  glittery delight. The tree in Queen Victoria Square this year changes colour every few seconds and I must admit is probably the best tree for many years, someone had the bright idea of turning off the nearby street lights so it shows off better. I remember one year the tree was so puny it had to be replaced and on the whole the trees have been a bit of a disappointment. Not that I'm that much into Xmas and all that jazz, you understand, but if you're going to do it at all you may as do it well.. 

Congratulations to all those graduates

Well it's that time of year again: Graduation Day. A day for dressing up, hiring the gowns from Ede & Ravenscroft and parading round town wearing a silly hat with your ever so proud parents. And, well, why not?

and dad can dress up too!

The guy in green is Michael Wood, a world champion town crier no less, possessed of an exceedingly loud and powerful voice.

They never had music in my day, mind you I didn't go to Hull University, my loss I suppose. Here a quartet played some baroque and roll and were ignored by all.

Saturday Afternoon

So this is what Hull gets up to on a Saturday afternoon in June! Let's start with the copper man who sits on an invisible seat, close by there's the preacher man converting no-one in particular but the whole world in general and roundly ignored by all and sundry.

In Queen's Gardens it was Armed Forces Day with a rock band, loud and not too bad, in the new bandstand and lots of stalls for various army things, not my cup of tea but you can't please everyone. In the morning there had been a march by troops through the town past the mayor in all her glory. Needless to say I missed that.

It was ten minutes 'till the next Punch & Judy show so I moved on and took pictures of the new bridge which I posted yesterday.

On Whitefriargate a man was sculpting a dog out of sand, according to the local newspaper there's a craze for this kind of thing. Whoever would have guessed?

And last but by no means least Hull's Olympic gold medal winning boxer Luke Campbell was giving sparring lessons to anyone brave enough to take him on in Queen Victoria Square ... 

After all that it was time to go home and put my feet up. There were other things going on as well but if I told them all here there'd be nothing left for tomorrow. Hull dull? Nah! Well not today at least.

With the gods on their side

At the end of January I showed a silhouette of this figure in Queen Victoria Square [ 1 ]. Well here's a proper look at this piece of Edwardian nonsense. Their sense of imperial might had clouded their judgement and they have slipped back into Roman times, City Hall in the background with its columns and cupola is a fine piece of a classical wannabe. This is clearly one of Neptune's little helpers giving a guiding hand to British shipping. If this reflected the mindset of the powers that be in 1903 what are we to make of the leafy ball that is planned for close by?

There's more monchrome madness at the Weekend in Black and White here.

City Hall

Here's the City Hall on a bright sunny day. The City Hall is not to be confused with the Guildhall which is the seat of local political shenanigans. No, the City Hall hosts concerts and other cultural events which may explain why there are so many police vans surrounding it.

Trident

If you're familiar with Hull you'll know where this is. If not it doesn't really matter. It's just a piece of Edwardian claptrap celebrating Empire and Majesty and all the crud that goes with it. Fitting then that it sits on top of the public convenience.

Punch Hotel

The Punch was originally built in the 1840's ( see old photo here ) but was demolished and rebuilt in grand style in 1896. The exterior is covered in ceramic tiling to give a highly decorative effect. It sits on the corner of Queen Victoria Square between the Ferens art gallery and Carr Lane's 20th century excrescences. 

The Tannenbaum is deepest red

In town yesterday I came across this. Well now I have no time for superstitions and the follies of Xmas leave me cold but this is just plain wrong. A bright red Xmas tree for heavens sake! And still on display after 12^th night well now that's just so much bad luck, donchaknow. But as this is Barclay's they're probably too busy fixing the financial indices to notice.

Domestic terrorist

In seeking a suitable silhouette for this month's theme I came across Vicky (the comrade formerly known as Queen) with her assault rifle in one hand and an old fashioned bomb in the other.

See what other City Daily Photo Bloggers have made of this theme here or at the Facebook group here.

Missing letter effect

Gloomy Outlook

When the sky has that eerie glow in it you just know it doesn't mean you well. 

On Reflection ...

Perhaps I'll post some more now and again ...

My bank's become a trendy wine bar ....

This is a detail from the rather elegant building below. It was for years a bank and survived the air raids that destroyed many buildings in the centre of Hull during the WW2. It could not however survive the changes in fashion and it has now become a outlet for some international chain of caffeine vendors.